840.48 Refugees/866: Telegram
The Ambassador in Germany (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 2—2:54 p.m.]
586. During the course of a talk with Von Weizsaecker I again raised the question of Rublee’s visit and urged prompt and satisfactory answer. Von Weizsaecker said that he could not tell me when the German Government could answer. He was still waiting examination of the question by the Department of Finance and the Department of Economics. He had talked at length over the telephone with Ribbentrop in Munich and had explained in detail my presentation of the case. Ribbentrop was inclined to think “as Weizsaecker had thought at first” that there were disadvantages in connection with the visit but a decision could not be reached until the wishes of the interested departments had been ascertained.
The delay in this matter is another example of the difficulty of doing business with an absent government. The continuous and prolonged absence of the Chief of State and the Minister for Foreign Affairs means most dilatory action on all matters to which they are not giving their immediate attention.
I have notified British and French Embassies and repeated to London for Rublee.